Computer-usable medium for providing automatic sales support

ABSTRACT

A system and method for notifying salespersons of customer communications including a target item is provided. Individual customers are mapped to one or more salespersons. Target items of interest to a salesperson are defined and a salesperson is associated with a customer. For each salesperson, on-line communication channels are monitored for the occurrence of a communications involving a customer associated with the salesperson and including a target item defined by the salesperson. When such an occurrence happens, a notification is directed to the salesperson. Salesperson access to the system and customer access to the on-line communication channels requires authorization.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/240,051, filedSep. 30, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,316, issued May 13, 2008, whichis a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/850,073, filed May 7,2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,224, issued Jul. 1, 2008, each of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Priority to bothapplications is claimed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to sales force automation, customer support, andcontact management. More particularly, the invention relates to systemsand methods for apprising a salesperson of the occurrence of selectedconsumer interactions with the salesperson's employer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various strategies are employed by corporations to generate sales. Mosttypically, a corporation makes known its ability to produce certaingoods through advertisements such as, newspaper ads, television ads,magazine ads, internet ads and directed mailings, among others. Once aninitial sales lead is developed and/or a first sale finalized,maintaining customer relationships is critical to the continuation ofthe sales process. Therefore, an individual within a corporation's salesstaff is typically assigned the task of supporting an individualcustomer. While at least one salesperson is typically assigned to eachactive customer, a customer may be supported by multiple salespersons.In addition, each salesperson may support zero, one, or multipleindividual customers at any given time.

Throughout the customer relationship, salespersons may periodicallynotify assigned customers of established services, new service offersand general interest information, thereby maintaining open lines ofcommunication and facilitating potential sales. Salespersons may alsoprovide customers with status reports concerning customer-initiatedrequests and completed reports in reply to such requests. However,manually collating and tracking each of these customer-salespersoninteractions is problematic, as the customer may deal with varioussalespersons from time-to-time, each of whom would have coordinate theirefforts. Further, a customer may interact with various otherrepresentatives of the sales corporation, compounding the effort neededto collate and track customer-corporate representative interactions.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications offer salescorporations improved sales performance and management of customerrelationships as compared to manual tracking of customer-corporaterepresentative interactions. Conventional CRM applications gather,collate and store data from corporate records created duringcustomer-corporate representative interactions, such as, servicetelephone calls to a customer assistance center, sales transactions, andweb site registration and usage. These conventional sales-forceautomation applications utilize the data that has been stored incorporate records to generate customized sales letters and facilitateaccess by salespersons to the stored information. Conventionalsales-force automation applications also assist in the development ofnew sales leads, the sharing of information among/across sales staff,marketing staff and other corporate staff, and the storing of acustomer's personal information. Analytical CRM Applications mine thedata stored in corporate records for patterns and suggest appropriate,targeted marketing campaigns and sales pitches.

However, customers may communicate with a sales corporation in everincreasing manners via ever increasing methods, such as, e-mail,asynchronous on-line discussion groups (i.e., bulletin-boards/netnewsand list servs), synchronous on-line discussion groups (a.k.a.,real-time chat rooms), and on-line instant messaging, among others.Conventional CRM applications do not make provisions for the collectionof customer data communicated via these on-line communication channels.Further, on-line requests for information from a customer may beresponded to automatically by an electronic agent operated by thecorporation. Accordingly, a salesperson assigned to a customer thatcommunicates via such an on-line channel may be unaware of numerouscustomer interactions with the corporation. Such a lack of informationmay lead to gaps in corporate knowledge, resulting in non-existentcommunication or repetitive, unfocused communications with customers bysalespersons. As a result customer relationships may be damaged andsales opportunities lost.

As such, it is important that a corporation and its sales force have theability to automatically monitor communication to and from thecorporation's customers across all communication channels. In this way,salespersons can remain knowledgeable of customers' interests andconcerns, thereby increasing sales and marketing efficiency.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the invention, there are provided a method of and asystem for automated sales support that apprises a salesperson of theoccurrence of selected consumer interactions with the salesperson'semployer via on-line communication channels. Individual customers aremapped to one or more salespersons. Target items of interest to asalesperson are defined and a salesperson is associated with a customer.For each salesperson, on-line communication channels are monitored forthe occurrence of a communications involving a customer associated withthe salesperson and including a target item defined by the salesperson.When such an occurrence happens, a notification is directed to thesalesperson. Salesperson access to the system and customer access to theon-line communication channels requires authorization.

A second aspect of the invention features an automated sales supportsystem that includes a system settings module, a channel monitor and areport generator. The system settings module permits a salesperson toset up at least one target and to associate with at least one customer.The channel monitor enables an on-line communication channel between thesalesperson and the customer, analyzes the content of communications onthe on-line communication channel for communications that are with thecustomer associated with the salesperson and that include contentmatching the target set up by the salesperson. When such communicationsare detected, the channel monitor generates notification of the same tothe salesperson. The report generator receives queries from thesalesperson and reports on communications in a history that match theparameters of the query. Thus, the salesperson is apprised of consumerinteractions with the employer of the salesperson.

It is not intended that the invention be summarized here in itsentirety. Rather, further features, aspects and advantages of theinvention are set forth in or will be apparent from the followingdescription and drawings. In addition, while the invention may beembodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, itshould be noted that the drawings are illustrative only. Various changesmay be made in the specific embodiment illustrated and described whileremaining within the scope of the appended claims and the contemplatedinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a computer that is able to implementthe method of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of networked computer system on whichthe invention may be implemented;

FIG. 3 is a high level overview of the automated sales support system ofthe invention;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative mapping of a sales corporation's salespersonnel to a customer corporation's purchasing staff;

FIG. 5 illustrates a portion of the salesperson interface within theautomated sales support system, specifically a target definition menuthat allows a salesperson to select target items to be detected within acustomer's on-line communications;

FIG. 6 illustrates, in general, the functionality provided by theautomated sales support application of the invention

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating channel monitoring processes in anembodiment of the automated sales support application of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a sales automationsystem is provided that notifies a salesperson of the occurrence ofselected targets within a customer's interactions with the salesperson'semployer via on-line communication channels.

FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an embodiment of acomputer system 100 employed by the present invention. The computersystem 100 is configured to have a central processing unit (CPU) 110, amemory 120, an input device 130, a display 140 and storage 150 coupledvia a system bus 160. The input device 130 may take the form of akeyboard, a computer mouse, voice activated response unit or otherdevice that generates an output signal in response to a user interactionwith the input device. The display 140 may be a cathode ray tube (CRT)display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma display or othercomputer monitor that displays information. Storage 114 may be, forexample, magnetic, optical, or magneto-optical storage. It is readilyapparent that the computer system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 is merelyexemplary. Computer system 100 may be configured in a variety waysutilizing a variety of devices.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative embodiment of networked computer system inwhich the automated sales support system of the invention may beimplemented. A corporate salesperson interacts with a first computer 100a. A customer of the corporation (e.g., a purchasing staff member of acustomer corporation) interacts with a second computer 100 b. Computers100 a and 100 b are coupled via communication channels to network 210.In the illustrative embodiment, customer computer 100 b is coupled tothe network 210 through Internet service provider 212, while salespersoncomputer 100 a is directly coupled to the network 210. Additionalcustomers and/or salespersons may be linked to the automated salessupport system in the same manner. Via this linkage, a customer maycommunicate with individual salespersons, support staff or electronicagents at a sales corporation (i.e. corporate representatives) withwhich the customer conducts business. A customer also may communicatewith other customers that are networked to the automated sales supportsystem. In alternative embodiments, the network may comprise a datanetwork, a voice network, the Internet, a corporation's internal datanetwork, or a combination of several networks. In each of these cases,computers 100 a and 100 b connect to the network 210 through variousintermediaries well known in the art.

Server 214 also couples to data network 210. Server 214 is a generalpurpose computer programmed to provide the automated sales supportapplication. In alternative embodiments, server 214 may only provide aportion of the automated sales support application and functions inconjunction with other portions of the application that are co-locatedon the salesperson computer and/or the customer computer. Server 214also couples to storage device 216, such as a magnetic, optical, ormagneto-optical storage device. Storage device 216 stores target data,system settings, completed reports, notification history, customer data,corporate records, and other information utilized by and generated bythe system.

The automated sales support application 218, executing in memory 220 ofserver 214, is able to access the storage device 216 and providerequested information to salespersons and customers at computers 100 aand 100 b respectively. That information may include system settings,previously completed reports and a history of notifications provided toa salesperson. The automated sales support application 218 on server 214also monitors communication between a customer and the corporation(i.e., any of the corporation's representatives). Upon detectingselected targets in a communication (i.e., items of interest within acommunication), the server 214 thereafter directs notification to asalesperson associated with the customer that initiated thecommunication. Such notification is directed to the associatedsalesperson at his/her salesperson computer 102 a. The notification maybe a summary version of the communication of interest or the server 214may, if desired, direct the entire, original communication to thesalesperson computer 102 a associated with the salesperson that is to benotified. Further, the automated sales support application may beconfigured by the salesperson so that notifications occur immediately orat specified times or intervals.

The automated sales support application 218 may also integrate thefunctional features of a conventional CRM application. In other words, acorporate representative utilizing the application may generatecorporate records relating to an interaction with a customer. When acorporate record is created, the record is scanned to determine whetherthe record contains any targets for which a notification should begenerated. If a target is within the corporate record, a notification isgenerated in the same manner as explained above with respect to themonitoring of on-line channels.

FIG. 3 is a high level overview of the automated sales support system ofthe invention. Illustrated is an embodiment of a system that can be usedby a corporation to provide its sales personnel with the ability tomonitor communications between the corporation and the corporation'scustomers across on-line communication channels. The system providessalespersons with notification upon detection of certain predeterminedtargets in communications on monitored communication channels. Acustomer 310 that wishes to communicate with a sales corporation 311 isable to do so over various on-line communication channels provided bythe corporation to its customers. On-line communication channels mayinclude: e-mail 314, asynchronous on-line discussion groups 316 (i.e.,bulletin-boards/netnews and list servs), synchronous on-line discussiongroups 318 (a.k.a., real-time chat rooms), on-line instant messaging320, 322, and other on-line channels (not shown).

Individual on-line communication channels provided by the salescorporation may be available only to registered customers or may beavailable to both registered and unregistered customers. For example,e-mail communication channel 314 is a public communication channelavailable to all customers. In other words, any customer, potential orlongstanding, registered or unregistered, is able to interface with thecorporation directly via the public, email communication channel. Othercommunication channels 316-322 are restricted to the public and areavailable only to registered customers; these communication channels areknown as restricted communication channels.

Customer authorization is required prior to providing full customeraccess to the restricted communication channels 316-322. To obtainaccess to a restricted communication channel, customer 310 interfaceswith an authorization unit 323, which resides at the central computerserver providing the automated sales support application and connectedto the communication channel. Alternatively, the authorization unit maybe located at an intermediate computer serving the communicationchannel. As is known in the art, the authorization unit 323 is capableof registering first time users of a particular communication channel,by requesting a username and password, before permitting access to thecommunication channel. Once successfully registered, the automated salessupport software assigns a salesperson to the newly registered customer.The salesperson's employer (i.e., management personnel) may alsoinitially assign a salesperson to a customer. That is, managementpersonnel may instruct the automated sales support software to assignindividual Customer B to Salesperson A (or more likely, assign allemployees of Company B to Salesperson A). This associated salespersonwill then receive notifications of the customer's interactions with thecorporation, as explained below, and is responsible for maintaining thecustomer-corporation sales relationship. Alternatively, first timeregistration of a customer may require that a salesperson assigned tothe customer enable the customer's access to restricted communicationchannels by establishing an initial username and password.

Authorization unit 323 verifies the identity of a first time customer orregistered customer attempting to access a restricted communicationchannel against a list of registered customers of the corporation, whichmay be stored in a database. A customer is required to identifyhimself/herself (e.g., log on) each time the customer wishes to accessthe full functionality of a restricted communication channel (e.g.,interact with a discussion group on the asynchronous on-line discussionchannel). Once logged-on to a restricted communication channel, thecustomer may securely converse with customer peers and/or corporationrepresentatives (e.g., care center agents, automated agents). At thesame time, since the customer is logged-on, the automated sales supportsystem is able to associate distinct communications with an individualcustomer and forward notifications to the salespersons associated withthe individual customer. For public communication channels, such ase-mail, the automated sales support system is able to determinecommunications from distinct customers based on a known customer's emailaddress. First time customers communicating via a public communicationchannel are assigned to/associated with a salesperson selected by thesystem.

The automated sales support system provides four basic functions:establishment of communication channels between the customer and thesales corporation, association of the sales corporation's salespersonnel to the customer corporation's purchasing staff, definition oftargets to be found within the customers' communications, andnotification, queries and reporting of targets found in customercommunications.

Communication channels 314-322 connect to channel monitor 324. Thechannel monitor 324 automatically analyzes the content of communicationson the communication channels to and from a customer in an effort todetect defined target items 326 pre-programmed by a salespersonassociated with the customer. The channel monitor 324 analyzescommunication directed from the customer to the corporation andcommunication directed from a corporate representative to the customer.The channel monitor 324 thereafter informs the appropriate salesperson/sof the sales force 312 when a target is found in a communication on acommunication channel. A salesperson may be an automated agent thatautomatically responds to specific customer communications or a salesstaff member.

Target items 326 are preprogrammed items of interest that may be foundin customer communications with the sales corporation. Target items mayinclude key alphanumeric characters/strings/emoticons (e.g., ?, !, help,:−∥, :−(, :′−(, #.−o), timely product offerings provided by the salescorporation (e.g., the name of the latest service offer), and specialcodes provided by a salesperson (e.g., 411, 911, KILROY and othercodes). A salesperson is able to individually control the selection oftarget items according to his/her personal preference. For example, acertain salesperson may not desire to be informed of communicationscontaining a question mark, which should be better sent to a moretechnically oriented salesperson or technical consultant assigned to thecustomer. At the same time, this certain salesperson, who handles onlycustomer complaints, may desire to be informed of communicationcontaining an exclamation mark. The selection of target items in theapplication is extendable so that a salesperson can select targets foreach individual customer to which the salesperson is assigned.

Each salesperson is also able to control how he/she will be informed ofthe customer's interactions with the corporation. A salesperson mayrequest to be informed differently depending on the interaction type.For example, a salesperson may prefer to be notified via different media(e.g., electronic mail, page, telephone, voice mail), via an immediateor delayed report, and/or via per-interaction or summarized reports, fordifferent customer-corporation communications. Such preferenceinformation is stored as part of the system settings 328, which sets upthe interface between a salesperson and the automated sales supportapplication. The system settings may also include a list of salespersonsauthorized to use the software, a list of authorized customers that isutilized in conjunction with the authorization unit, and otherpersonalized interface features, such as, the coloring and positioningof the displayed graphical user interface of the automated sales supportapplication.

Notifications 330 stores a history of the notifications that have beendetected and generated by the channel monitor in response to customercommunication with the corporation. Reports 332 is a report generatorthat contains preprogrammed reports that can be run on the notificationhistory and other stored information associated with the automated salessupport application. The report generator can also be personalized by asalesperson to generate individualized reports that include onlyselected information from the total information available in thenotification history. In addition, the report generator is able toarchive reports that have been generated for delivery at some latertime.

Delivery of customer-corporation communication notifications to theappropriate salesperson is dependent on an accurate mapping of anindividual customer to an individual member of the sales corporation'ssales staff. System settings 328 includes the mapping of salesperson tocustomer. When an individual customer interacts with the corporation(for whatever reason), the salesperson assigned to/associated with thatindividual customer is informed of the interaction. In this manner, thesalesperson will be provided with the knowledge of all communicationsbetween the customer and the corporation. The appropriate salesperson isinformed of the time, date, and contents of the communication.

For example, a corporation can establish on-line (electronic) discussiongroups and provide its customers with permission to access thesediscussion groups on a restricted communication channel. Customers mustidentify themselves each time (e.g., log on) before assessing accessinga discussion group on a restricted channel. Within a discussion group,customers may read earlier posts and create replies and/or new posts.When an individual customer creates a reply or a new post within acorporation provided on-line discussion group, the content of that postis be automatically analyzed by the channel monitor. If the content ofthe post contains any of a number of pre-defined target items, thesalesperson(s) assigned to that individual customer is informed by anotification. The notification may include the time, date, and some formof the content of the post on the on-line discussion group.

FIG. 4 is an illustrative mapping of a sales corporation's salespersonnel to a customer corporation's purchasing staff. The exemplarydatabase arrangement details the relationship between a customercorporation and its customer employees, and a sales corporation and itssales managers and sales employees that are to be notified when item ofinterest is conveyed on a monitored on-line communication channel. Thisassociation allows a salesperson, who is assigned to a specificcustomer, to remain apprised of that customer's interests and concerns,as reflected through the customer's on-line interactions withcorporation representatives.

On the sales corporation side, the automated sales support applicationallows numerous selling companies 410 to be established. Each sellingcompany 410 is a subset of the sales corporation, for example, asubsidiary or department of the sales corporation. For each sellingcompany 410, corporate management associates zero, one or multiplemanagers of the sales staff 412. Managers of the sales support staff 412oversee sales staff employees 414, whose records are also set up in theautomated sales support application for each selling company 410. Zero,one or multiple sales staff employees can be associated with any oneselling company 410 or manager of sales staff 412.

On the customer corporation side, the automated sales supportapplication allows numerous customer companies 416 to be established.Each customer company 416 represents a unique customer corporation thathas a business relationship with the sales corporation. For eachcustomer company 416, corporate management of the sales corporationassociates zero, one or multiple customer company employees 418.Customer company employees 418 are the purchasing staff personnel of thecustomer corporation that act as contacts persons for their employer.Customer company employees 418 are the persons with which a businessrelationship must be maintained in order to facilitate and generatesales orders. While setting up either the sales staff employees 414 orthe customer company employees 418, the association between these twosets of employees 414 and 418 is established through, for example, adrop down table. Zero, one or multiple sales staff employees 414 can beassociated with any individual customer company employee 418. In thesame manner, zero, one or multiple customer company employees 418 can beassociated with any individual sales staff employees 414.

Thus, specific sales staff employees are associated with specificcustomer companies and with specific customer company employees. Basedon these associations, sales staff employees and managers of sales staffcan be notified of the occurrence of on-line communications with thesales corporation that include pre-programmed targets. The associationof sales staff employees (i.e., salespersons) to customer companyemployees (i.e., customers) can also be used to limit the ability of asalesperson to query and receive reports generated by the automatedsales support application to only those regarding associated customercompanies 416 and customer company employees 418. In other words, theassociation of a salesperson to a customer authorizes the salesperson toquery and receive reports concerning the customer.

For security purposes, the automated sales support application mayrequest that management staff authenticate themselves prior toinputting/amending salesperson-customer associations. If authorized,management staff are able to establish/terminate the associations asdescribed further below with respect to FIG. 5. At least onesales-corporation employee (i.e., a salesperson, e.g., an employee ofthe sales staff) should be assigned to or associated with each customercorporation to ensure that customer communications with the salescorporation are duly monitored and appropriately handled.

FIG. 5 illustrates a portion of the salesperson interface within theautomated sales support application, specifically a target definitionmenu that allows a salesperson to select target items to be detectedwithin an associated customer's on-line communications with the salescorporation. Sales staff employees (i.e., salespersons) 510 of a salescorporation define the target items 512 to be detected within acustomer's on-line communications with the sales corporation. When atarget item in a communication is detected, the sales staff employeethat selected notification of the occurrence of the target item isnotified of such occurrence. As a preliminary step to programming targetitems, a sales staff employee may be required to authenticatehimself/herself with the automated sales support application. Thus, thesales staff employee may interact with an authorization unit 514,inputting a user identification and password, as is well known in theart.

Once a salesperson is authorized to program target items, the targetitems 512 are presented to the salesperson via a graphical userinterface (GUI) provided on a monitor 516 of the salesperson's computer.The salesperson has the ability to define the target items to bedetected within the customer's on-line communications. Target items 512are items of interest that may be found in customer communications tothe sales corporation. Target items may include key alphanumericcharacters/strings/emoticons (e.g., !, ?, help, :), :( ) 518,terms/strings from a glossary (e.g., analysis, broadband) 520, timelyproduct offerings provided by the sales corporation (e.g., AdvertisedPromotion, Widget X) 522, and special salesperson codes (e.g., 411, 911,KILROY and other codes) 524. Characters/emoticons 518, glossary terms520 and product offerings 522 are all pre-programmed in the systemsettings of the application. The salesperson is able to provideself-defined targets to the system using the special salesperson codes524 (e.g., via a text-input field).

A salesperson is able to individually control the selection of targetitems according to his/her personal preference, for example, byselecting a check box associated with any single target item. Asillustrated in FIG. 5, no alphanumeric characters/emoticons have beenenabled as target items; however, Advertised Promotion, Widget X andWidget Z have been enabled as target items. Preferably, the target itemsselected by a salesperson apply to all customers associated with thesalesperson. Alternatively, the automated sales support application canbe extended so that a salesperson can select unique targets for eachindividual customer to which the salesperson is assigned. Once targetshave been programmed, the automated sales support applicationautomatically, without any salesperson's intervention, searches fortimely and topical targets defined by the salesperson (e.g., new offers,promotions).

FIG. 6 illustrates, in general, the functionality provided by theautomated sales support application. Specifically, the applicationincludes a channel monitor 610 that watches communications sent andreceived on on-line communication channels. Based on stored targets 612and system settings 614 established by salespersons, the applicationdetermines whether the received communication has any item of interestto a salesperson associated with the customer communicating with thesales corporation. If items of interest are located in a communication,the application generates a notification message 616 to the appropriatesalesperson. The application also has a reports module 618 that allowsquerying by authorized salespersons to generate reports that detail thehistory of targets found in customer communications. (i.e., what, ifany, targets have been found within a customers' on-linecommunications). Only salespersons who have been assigned to orassociated with a customer have the ability to learn of targets withinthat customer's communications with the sales corporation.

The system settings 614 also permits programming of parameters for thecontrol of the timing, content and method of the notification to thesalesperson. Notifications can be immediate or delayed, summarized orcompletely detailed, in response to a communication that requires anotification to be issued. For example, a summary report may bedelivered daily, weekly, or monthly, as chosen by the salesperson. Inaddition, the salesperson can request to be notified differentlydepending on the on-line communication channel used by the customer anddepending on the target(s) found. For example, a salesperson may benotified via electronic mail, pager, telephone, voice mail if multipletargets are detected.

The various components and subsystems generally illustrated in FIG. 6may be implemented as software modules executing on general purposecomputer server. A single processor, such as a mini-mainframe connectedto a number of individual terminals can be used when the salespersonsare located in a close proximity. For example, a number of automobilesalespeople may be located a single dealership, each having their ownterminal to support their sales activities. Alternatively, separateprocessors or computing platforms may be used for each component of thesystem or for various combinations of components. When, for example, thetarget module is detached from the channel monitor, separate processorelements may be used by the modules.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating channel monitoring processes in anembodiment of an automated sales support application according to theprinciples of the invention. At step 700 the channel monitor processesbegins to watch communication between a customer and the corporation(i.e., any one of the corporation's salespersons) for the occurrence ofcommunication including a target. In general, the channel monitoringprocesses direct notification to an appropriate salesperson upondetecting selected communication targets of interest. At 710 theautomated sales support application receives a communication from acustomer on a communication channel. At step 712, the applicationdetermines if the on-line communication is on a public, on-linecommunication channel or a restricted, on-line communication channel.

If the on-line communication channel is not a public, on-linecommunication channel (i.e., is a restricted, on-line communicationchannel), the application advances to step 714 and checks if thecustomer communicating with the corporation is an authorized customer.If the customer is not an authorized customer, an authorization processis undertaken 716 and the application then again waits to receive acommunication from a customer on the on-line channel 710. If thecustomer is an authorized customer (i.e., the customer has already beenidentified), the application advances to the start of a communicationtarget checking stage 718. If the on-line communication channel is apublic, on-line communication channel, the customer communicating withthe corporation is known and identified via the email address, and theapplication advances to the start of a communication target checkingstage 718.

At the start of a communication target checking stage 718, theapplication determines the next salesperson associated with the customerthat initiated the communication. If the next salesperson is the end ofsalespersons marker 720, the application ends the communication targetchecking stage 722. If the next salesperson is not the end ofsalespersons marker, the application determines the next target for thesalesperson associated with the customer 724. If the next target is theend of targets marker 726, the application loops back to step 718 todetermine the next salesperson associated with the customer. If the nexttarget is not the end of targets marker, the application checks for thetarget in the communication from the customer. If the target is notfound in the communication from the customer 728, the application loopsback to step 720 to determine the next target. If the target is found inthe communication from the customer 728, the application generates anotification directed to the salesperson for the communication 730 andthen loops back to step 720 to determine the next target. Thus, theapplication checks a customer communication for each target establishedby each salesperson associated with the customer that initiated thecommunication and generates notifications to the appropriatesalespersons upon find targets in communications between a customer anda sales corporation.

Although illustrative embodiments of the present invention and variousmodifications thereof have been described in detail herein withreference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that theinvention is not limited to these precise embodiment and the describedmodifications, and that various changes and further modifications may beeffected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from thescope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

1. A method of notifying a salesperson of consumer interactions with anemployer of the salesperson, the method comprising: enabling thesalesperson to select a target item in communications over a pluralityof on-line communication channels from a customer to which thesalesperson is assigned; monitoring the plurality of on-linecommunication channels for an occurrence of a communication from thecustomer, wherein the communication includes the target item; andnotifying the salesperson upon the occurrence, wherein the on-linecommunication channels are selected from the group consisting of:e-mail, an asynchronous on-line discussion group, a synchronous on-linediscussion group and on-line instant messaging.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the on-line communication channels include a bulletin board.3. The method of claim 1, wherein the on-line communication channelsinclude a netnews site.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the on-linecommunication channels include a list server.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the on-line communication channels include a real-time chatroom.
 6. A method of notifying a salesperson of consumer interactionswith an employer of the salesperson, the method comprising: checkingwhether a customer accessing a restricted on-line communication channelwith the employer is an authorized customer; if the customer is not anauthorized customer, then undertaking an authorization process includingassigning the customer to the salesperson; enabling the salesperson toselect a target item in communications over the restricted on-linecommunication channel from the customer to which the salesperson isassigned; monitoring the restricted on-line communication channel for anoccurrence of a communication from the customer, wherein thecommunication includes the target item; and notifying the salespersonupon the occurrence.
 7. A method of notifying a salesperson of consumerinteractions with an employer of the salesperson, the method comprising:enabling the salesperson to select a target item in communications overan on-line public communication channel from a customer to which thesalesperson is assigned; monitoring the public on-line communicationchannel for an occurrence of a communication from the customer, whereinthe communication includes the target item; the monitoring includingidentifying the customer via an email address; and notifying thesalesperson upon the occurrence.